nick's blog

Some lovely new autumnal recipes on the website now.
Do have a look.
They’re very easy to download – burgers, tarts, family meals, posh puds and more…

Did you know that 95 per cent of the blackcurrants in Ribena come from Scotland? Just one of a bucketful of facts learned while I was filming with Landward at the Scottish Crop Research Institute near Dundee this week; another being that the best berries for you are a mixture, as they all have slightly different but complimentary health benefits.

I’ve always known we had great berries in Scotland – I have happy childhood memories of scoffing wild blaeberries in the hills and strawberries under the hedgerows and I have a whole pile of raspberry recipes up my sleeve – but the researchers completely confirmed this fact, that Scotland leads the world in berry production and berry know-how.

The good news is that there’s no genetic modification involved as it’s banned in Scotland, but the Research Institute does use many detailed and painstaking old-fashioned methods to produce tasty and resilient berries. They’re constantly researching environmentally benign methods of protecting crops from pests, pathogens and weeds. Really fascinating stuff, which also brings to light a host of complex rural issues. Landward are running a 3-programme series on this, starting Friday 8th October. Hope you’ll join us then.

A few tickets still available for a lovely evening out with me! Date, Thursday 30^th September, location Dunblane Hydro. My superb team of chefs will prepare your three-course dinner while I demonstrate how it’s done in a way that you can easily recreate at home. There’ll be post-dinner entertainment in the Stuart Lounge where you can also buy my latest cook book if you like, and I’ll be around to sign it, too. These evenings have been a great success so far, really good fun, lovely atmosphere, and, of course, fantastic Scottish cooking.

The cost is £65 per person for the evening. Or if you want to stay at Dunblane Hydro, it’s £120 per person for the full evening, accommodation and a hearty Scottish breakfast the next morning. Call 01786 822 551 to book, or go to www.doubletreedunblane.com/nicknairn, or contact events@dunblane@hilton.com. See you there.

If you’re not free that night, there’s an evening with me at the Kailyard coming up on November 2^nd, where I’ll be the one cooking in the Kailyard kitchen.

Head to Silverburn Tesco on Saturday (28th Aug, between 10am and 5pm) for a chance to win a day at the Cook School. Literally in the car park you’ll find a big Taster Roadshow with a whole host of food producers showcasing their wares – great idea, like a large Farmer’s Market basically. Lots to taste and buy, including my lovely biscuits, oatcakes, cereal, pancakes, tattie scones – all my own recipes, all low-salt, all Scottish ingredients (where possible!).

Place to be is Silverburn Tesco car park, Barrhead Rd,
G53 5QR.

Have had several good restaurant experiences in the last fortnight. The first was at Kushi’s, a new curry place in Stirling, on Upper Craigs. Way above average food – particularly the seafood, which was delicate and delicious. It’s not doing anything revolutionary, but just serving well-cooked fresh Indian food. Also, it’s got a Bring Your Own Bottle policy, which is a welcome novelty these days.

Then at the other end of the foodie spectrum, we had a sensational and actually flawless meal at Andrew Fairlie’s at Gleneagles. Wow, one of the best meals I’ve ever had; maybe even The Best Meal…? Have to have a think about that. Tried his new Menu du Marché (the market menu), with langoustine carpaccio, butter-poached lobster, sautéed scallops… and much more… mouthwatering stuff.

Then, somewhere in between the two, an excellent lunch at Jamie’s Italian in Glasgow. We’d tried the Bath one, and had a pretty good meal, with a couple of disappointments, but this was fab. The pasta, all made from scratch on the premises using Italian eggs and flour, was perfect. The prawn linguini had a delicate infusion of shellfish stock subtly permeating the flavour of the tomatoes, which is really unusual in this country, and tricky to pull off well. The whole experience felt Italian, using fresh, top-quality, well-put together ingredients. Lovely mushrooms, too; dark, rich and autumnal, and a fab feather steak, with a real beef saltimbocca feel with sage and prosciutto. Very, very good. Also, was great to go at lunchtime when we didn’t have to queue (don’t like the queuing thing). But Jamie’s done an outstanding job, managing to create a fantastic chain – a corporate idea without any hint of corporate in the delivery. An amazing achievement.

Went to Jamie’s Italian in Bath the other day. I wasn’t really up for queueing and all that – you can’t book, so everyone has to queue, but once we were in we had a pretty good experience. Lovely table, fantastic staff, totally stunning antipasti with immaculately sourced meats. This is what Jamie’s great at – pushing good simple ingredients, and he does it well here. His personality is in the basics, in the sourcing; it’s in the oil, the bread, the mozzarella, which was the best I’ve had in Britain.

However, when the cooking got more complicated, the food became a little disappointing. We had some very average fish-in-a-bag and properly disappointing flounder. It’ll be interesting to see how it works up in Glasgow. But, would we go back? Yes.

Chain restaurants are an interesting one. It’s a tricky business to get right and a brave one to get into. I was chatting to a friend yesterday, saying we had a good time in the Bath Wagamama, too. She was horrified and insisted she’d never had a good Wagamama experience in Glasgow. All chains are not the same.

Having said that, we had an awesome meal in a Bath gastro pub: The King William, which is a great Modern British restaurant with The Most Fantastic wines. You’ll find a list of the wines on the website. We started with the Meursault Les Poruzots, Domaine Remoissenet 1995 and got carried away and ordered a second bottle, thinking they probably only stocked one chilled, but no I think they had a fridgeful and weren’t putting a serious mark up on either. It’s probably lucky I don’t live nearer this place. We followed the white Bordeaux with a Saint-Julien, Sarget de Gruaud-Larose 1997. Lovely.

For fellow car enthusiasts out there, I have to share two truly exhilarating experiences of the last month. The first at Knockhill back on 27th June at the Motor Fair, where I had an awesome day’s racing in the Mini Challenge 2-driver endurance race: 30 laps, 15 per driver, coming in 6th out of 15 after my half. Spent a few blissful seconds behind the race leader, Oly Mortimer, a rising star, and witnessed the genius it takes for these young guys to succeed. The talent was so evident – with astonishing car control coming round some of the corners. You’ve just got to have that edge. An awesome day.

And, there’s more. I also had an unbelievably good time with the Jaguar team at their stunning base not far from Cologne, the utter highlight of which was testing the new XKR and being driven in said car on the Nordschleife in Nurburg. This public track was once nicknamed The Green Hell by Jackie Stewart and is known as the most treacherous and demanding purpose-built racing circuit in the world. Cue me and a pro Jaguar driver careering around the complexities of curves and twists and sinuous bends at about 140mph (him driving at this point) and coming nose to bumper with a Brit registered Volvo 340 going at about 40mph and obviously out for a slightly misplaced scenic cruise. My hugely skilful German driver barely scraped past the clunky Volvo at what felt like lightening speed. A LOT of fun.

And, lucky me, I get to drive an identical new black XKR (same car as Sir Chris Hoy – we’ve been texting) later this year – with added speed pack. Am counting the days… Thank you, thank you, thank you to the awesome Jaguar team. An astonishing set up over there, and the most beautiful cars. They also let me loose in the comparatively serene new XJ. Lovely.

By the way, the car shown here is an XKR Coupe in Polaris White with Black Pack.

Hello, hello, hello. Been away, been busy, back now. Good to be back and not so busy. The last month or so has been a bit of a frenzy of Highland Show prep and motor racing madness (more of which later). Great time there by the way – at the Royal Highland Show. Did a barbecue demo for Lidl, which was fantastically well attended and a lot of fun. We cooked up some great recipes. Still a bit of summer sun time left for some barbie cooking.

My favourite recipe from that show was the Garlic Prawns on Bruschetta – a really simple and delicious meal and so easy to cook, and now a Nairn family hit.

Here’s the recipe – for 4 people:
Preparation time: 15 minutes. Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
1 ciabatta loaf
Olive oil, for brushing
250g pack ready-to-eat Lidl King Prawns, thawed
100-150g butter
3 garlic cloves, crushed
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, plus extra to garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Salad greens, to serve
Strong kitchen foil

As prep, melt the butter in a saucepan and fry the garlic for 5 minutes until soft and golden. Add lemon zest, juice and parsley and put in a bowl. Set aside (you can do this ahead of time).

Split the ciabatta in half lengthways and cut each half into four. Brush with olive oil then barbecue until toasted (or grill on both sides on a hot, ridged griddle). Keep warm.

Take 4 large sheets of strong kitchen foil (shiny side up) and fold each one over to make 4 strong 30cm x 30cm squares. Lay 5 prawns in the centre of each square, lift up the sides around the prawns to make bowl shapes then pour some garlic and lemon butter over the top.

Place the foil bowls on the barbie and cook until the butter boils. Move to the side of the barbie and leave for a minute to finish heating through. Cover each piece of bruschetta with a pile of salad leaves and tip a parcel of garlic prawns on top of each one. Serve immediately, sprinkled with extra chopped parsley.

Great big thank you and well done to all the team for a hugely successful Taste of Edinburgh weekend. Everyone worked together brilliantly, helping 430 happy people to create a variety of mini culinary masterpieces. I’m already thinking ahead to the Scottish Good Food Show in October? Thoughts please…

Great to see seasonal Scottish produce in use. Some lovely strawbs, and new asparagus, too. For anyone who missed out on one of our free Cook School sessions at the show, here’s how to make chargrilled asparagus with poached egg for one: you’ll need a handful of Scottish asparagus, splash olive oil, a free-range organic egg, a dash of white wine vinegar and a few Parmesan shavings (optional).

Heat a griddle pan over a high heat. Brush the asparagus with the oil and place them onto the hot griddle, crossways. Turn the asparagus once, cooking evenly for three minutes – they should be tender and lightly charred. Remove from the pan and set aside. To poach the egg, add a splash of white wine vinegar to a pan of simmering water. Gently stir the water to create a whirlpool effect in the pan. Crack the egg into a teacup and then gently add the egg to the water. Switch off the heat and allow to poach for one or two minutes, until the white is firm and the yolk soft. Serve the egg on top of the asparagus with a good grind of pepper, and a shaving or two of Parmesan.

This is more than the sum of its parts, enjoy.

Really excited to be driving the celeb car in the Mini Challenge at Knockhill as part of this year’s Scottish racing weekend from 25th-27th June. Hugely looking forward to it. I’m in it to win in… at least not come last… I’ll be down practising before the big day, so watch this space for the results. Or better still, come down for a great day.

I’m also in the 30-lap endurance race with a novice as my co-driver. This lucky (!) person will have won the right to sit beside me. So hoping not to be last in that one either.

This is what the boys at Knockhill have to say about the races: ‘Topping the bill are the highly competitive Mini Cooper, Legends and Formula Ford Championships. The Mini Coopers are highly modified versions of the fabulous modern Mini with souped up engines and racing suspension plus a celebrity guest car being run by Tynecastle Garage of Edinburgh. There is every likelihood you might see a TV, radio or sports star taking to the track too. The minis have a 3-race format similar to the British Touring Cars, keeping all the drivers on their toes throughout the day.’

Place your bets, gentlemen please.